Loss
by CatchMeInADream
Summary: A reaction to the trailers from Skin. Slight AbbyNeela, though Susan is the main character.


Disclaimers: Not mine, never will be. If they were, I'd be working for NBC, wouldn't I?

**xxXxx**

**Loss**

When the cops came in and took Susan to the side, no one paid much attention. It was routine enough for the PD to come in with a picture and a request to alert them if the subject came in. However, it was very interesting when, after a moment, Susan went back to admit to tell Carter that he was in charge for the next hour or so, as she had to go with the police. No, she insisted, she didn't know what it was about; no one would tell her anything except that it was important, but she'd be back and they would know then.

The ride seemed to take quite a while, mostly because neither officer would tell her where they were going. Susan idly watched the buildings go by, thinking how much more interesting this would be if she were is a real cop car instead of a three year old tan Toyota. When she asked about that, the driver told her that they were detectives, as if that should explain everything. To him, it probably did.

She started to get scared only when they pulled to a stop at the city morgue. Incoherent images rushed through her head. Chuck and the baby, dead. Even, inexplicably, Chloe and little Suzie. She was nearly frantic with fear when they finally entered a small taupe room with a TV against the far wall. The screen was completely white, and it took her a moment to realize that they needed her to identify a body. Her stomach cramped with unease.

"I know this is difficult," one of the detectives said. "But if you know the victim, I'm going to need you to say the name. Do you understand?"

Annoyance flared briefly; she wasn't stupid. Of course she understood. She nodded, and turned to the cheap little TV. On some unseen signal, a set of hands reached across the screen and pulled the sheet down. Susan's hands flew up to her mouth as she gasped. Her knees locked, and if not for the detective nearest her taking her by the arms, she might have fallen. After a moment, she was able to choke out two words.

"Abby Lockhart."  
**  
xxXxx**

After a short interview, the detectives offered to drive her home. Susan refused; she made them take her back to the hospital. She needed to tell her staff.

Carter met her at admit, smiling and cracking a joke Susan barely heard. She told him to tell everyone to meet in the lounge in twenty minutes. He was confused, but she wouldn't say any more, so he did as she asked.

Twenty minutes later, her entire staff was crowded into the lounge. Under normal circumstances, they would have been pushing each other around, fighting for more personal space. But they seemed to have caught Susan's solemnity, and even Pratt and Ray were silent. And then, almost in unison, everyone looked around as if counting heads. They noticed one of their ranks was missing. Neela voiced the question: "Where's Abby?"

Susan didn't know what to say. This time, there was no pretty letter, nor was there a disaster to hide behind. She didn't know what to say, so she just said it. "Abby's dead."

Silence. A muffled gasp or two. And then the question; Susan didn't know who asked it. How? She told them what she knew, what the detectives knew. Abby was snatched from the ambulance bay by a couple of gangster kids. They had one in custody; the kid said that his brother was injured, and Abby was supposed to save him. But he was too badly hurt, and he died. So they shot Abby in the chest, waited while she bled out slowly, watching, and then took off. The cops only found the bodies so quickly because the kid in custody, only fourteen, came in and confessed.

Susan made her voice low and even and focused on keeping it that way. She only stopped speaking when someone began sobbing loudly enough to make her lift her gaze from the table. It was Neela; her small body was trembling violently in Malik's strong arms; he was the only thing keeping her from slithering bonelessly to the floor. Susan saw real, acute pain on the girl's face, a pain that stabbed at her heart because it left absolutely no doubt in her mind, or anyone else's, that she was mourning more than the loss of a friend. She inched forward, reaching to pull Neela into an embrace, but the younger woman shrank away from her.

"Don't touch me!" she hissed. "This is completely your fault! Don't you dare touch me!"

Susan let her arms drop, because what else could she do? Neela was right; it was her fault. If she hadn't been so goddamned harsh, Abby wouldn't have stayed outside. She sighed heavily.

"Carter, take her home," she rasped. He nodded and took Neela by the arm. Susan used her key to unlock their lockers and everyone pretended not to watch as Carter helped Neela into her coat. After they were gone, Carter tucking Neela protectively to his side and helping her to walk, Susan turned to the rest of her staff. Abby may have been only hours gone, but the rest of Chicago wasn't nearly as respectful of that as Susan would have liked them to be.

"Back to work."

They filed slowly out the door, staring forlornly at the ground, and left Susan alone. Finally, in that oppressive silence, Susan could cry.

.FINIS.


End file.
